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The Brussels Ibis Regulation (hereinafter – the Regulation) established the free movement of judgments and mutual trust in civil and commercial matters among Member States. However, the Regulation does not provide a clear answer as to whether all decisions of the courts of Member States fall within the scope of this regulation. Although the Regulation introduces the concept of a judgment, it provides only a list of exemplary court documents, which is not exhaustive. This article analyzes the criteria by which the decisions of Member States must be evaluated to ensure their enforceability is recognized across borders. The article also suggests one broad interpretation of the requirement for a court decision to be rendered in adversarial proceedings in order to also include default judgments, court orders and court settlements therein. The author submits that only such a wide interpretation meets the goals of Regulation and is aligned with the political will it enshrines. Finally, the article analyzes whether the decisions of Member States made based on the decisions of third Statesor in matters of their recognition fall within the scope of application of the Regulation.

This article analyzes the problems of enforcement of non-pecuniary (personal) judgments. Such judgments are characterized by a specific coercive enforcement procedure, as it can only be executed by a specific person (debtor), and ordinary enforcement measures are generally not applied. The legal acts regulating the forced enforcement process determine several sanctions that the court has the right to apply to a debtor who does not comply with a personal court decision. Such sanctions are regulated in Article 145(9), Article 273(3), and Article 771(6) of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania. In court practice, a number of questions arise regarding the interpretation and application of the bases of these sanctions and their mutual compatibility. This article examines the cases in which the court should apply the sanctions established in the aforementioned articles and how their application allows the goals of the enforcement proceedings to be achieved. The article raises the question of whether the grounds for the application of these sanctions are adequately regulated, or whether the judicial practice interpreting them is justified.

Enforcement proceedings shall be effective and all procedural guarantees of the right to a fair trial shall be ensured. This article examines the problems of recovery from property pledged by mortgage or pledged for the benefit of third parties. The Law on Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania allows recovery from such property in enforcement proceedings only when the creditor does not contest this possibility. However, this creditor right is not absolute, and the creditor shall not abuse this this right. This article analyses how the protection of a claim secured by a mortgage or pledge must be reconciled with the goal of an effective enforcement process when there is a need to recover from property secured by a mortgage or pledge. The article assesses the procedural problems that arise for the bailiff in order to perform recovery from such property, the legal status of the mortgagee or pledge creditor, and the rights and obligations in the process of execution. The relevant case law shows that one of the fundamental problems in such collection procedures is the objection of the mortgage or pledge creditor to the recovery of the property pledged to them. It also examines how such consent should be expressed, what legal consequences arise when the creditor opposes such recovery, and in which cases recovery from mortgaged or pledged property is possible without the creditor’s consent.

This article examines the problems of the legal status of members of a legal entity in bankruptcy proceedings. The article discusses the interest of member of a legal entity in the bankruptcy proceedings and what circumstances justify their participation in this process. The rights and obligations of members of a legal person at the stage of initiation and execution of bankruptcy proceedings are also examined. It analyzes the actions that can be taken by members of a legal entity in order to restore the solvency of the legal entity and terminate bankruptcy proceedings. The article also analyzes the problems of the position of an individual company owner in the bankruptcy proceedings of an individual company.

This article continues the research of peculiarities seen in the insolvency proceedings of legal entities and examines the problems of determination and payment of administrative costs of the bankruptcy proceedings of legal entities. The authors analyze the features of these costs in bankruptcy proceedings and how they can be identified. It also assesses the order in which administrative expenses must be paid in cases where the expenses do not exceed the estimate of administrative expenses, exceed it, or if assets of the legal person are insufficient to reimburse these costs.

This article analyzes the problems of ensuring the effectiveness of restructuring proceedings when implementing the Restructuring and Insolvency Directive into the law of the Republic of Lithuania. It examines the economic, social, and legal objectives of restructuring proceedings, and how this process can preserve viable companies operating in the market which encounter issues of solvency. The goals of the Restructuring and Insolvency Directive and the need to harmonize restructuring proceedings in the European Union are also assessed. This article additionally focuses on analyzing elements of ensuring the effectiveness of the restructuring proceedings set out in the Restructuring and Insolvency Directive: essential contracts, new and interim financing, suspension of individual enforcement measures, and the confirmation of a restructuring plan. It analyzes how these elements of the restructuring proceedings can help to ensure the preservation of viable companies and the continuity of activities during restructuring proceedings. Finally, this article also examines the proposed amendments to the Law on the Insolvency of Legal Entities regarding the implementation of the Restructuring and Insolvency Directive, and considers whether the proposed amendments will increase the efficiency of restructuring proceedings.

This article examines the goals and procedure of the sale of an enterprise as a going concern in corporate bankruptcy proceedings. It argues that the goals of the sale of an enterprise are not in accordance with the classic goals of bankruptcy proceedings, as they relate to the broader economic and social goals that can be achieved by selling an enterprise as an asset. This article also focuses on the comparative analysis of international legal regulation by examining how this procedure is regulated in the bankruptcy law of Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and France. The procedure for the sale of an enterprise established by the Law on Insolvency of Legal Entities and its problems are also examined. The authors consider how the sale of an enterprise should be ensured at the earliest possible stage of bankruptcy proceedings, and provide a proposal to change the procedure for the sale of the enterprise, including the court in this procedure. This paper also analyzes how bids to buy a company should be submitted, what actions should be performed by an insolvency administrator, how the interests of employees should be ensured, and what requirements should be established by law for the buyer of an enterprise.

This article explores the application of the general principle of civil procedure in enforcement proceedings, and the position of enforcement proceedings in the system of law. The initial focus of the article is the application of human rights in enforcement proceedings, and in this regard the European Convention on Human Rights has not established concrete rights in enforcement proceedings. Nevertheless, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights suggests that the right to a fair trial is applicable in enforcement proceedings. This application of human rights protection standards in the enforcement proceedings suggests that enforcement should be understood as an integral part of the judicial process, in which the principles of this process must also be applied in order to effectively protect the right to a court (effective enforcement). The mere fact that enforcement is carried out by a bailiff, and not by a court in enforcement proceedings, does not mean that member states have no obligation to ensure the protection of these rights. The authors then proceed to analyze the practical problems of the application of the general principles of civil procedure, such as the principle of dispositivity, procedural concentration, efficiency, equality of arms and adversarial process affecting the regulation of execution proceedings in enforcement proceedings. The authors found that these principles are also applicable in enforcement proceedings.

This article examines the meaning of fraudulent bankruptcy and the problems inherent in applications of fraudulent bankruptcy. It proposes how the regulation of fraudulent bankruptcy can be improved, and considers the historical development and legal regulation of the institute of fraudulent bankruptcy in foreign countries. Also considered is the amendment of fraudulent bankruptcy introduced by the Law on Insolvency of Enterprises of the Republic of Lithuania. The authors assert that the new law on insolvency proceedings has fundamentally changed the procedure for the examination of applications for fraudulent bankruptcy. They argue this to be the case since the court must decide not only on the grounds of fraudulent bankruptcy, but also on the persons who caused the fraudulent bankruptcy by the same decision. In such cases, also discussed is how the court must ensure the right to a fair trial and the effectiveness of insolvency (bankruptcy) proceedings is discussed, and the status of the person(s) involved and their procedural rights and obligations.

This article examines the problems of the application of the Law on Insolvency of Enterprises of the Republic of Lithuania as related to the commencement of insolvency proceedings. The new insolvency law introduces a new procedure for the commencement of insolvency proceedings that applies to restructuring and bankruptcy proceedings. In the authors’ opinion, the application of this procedure can raise both theoretical and practical problems that have not been analysed yet.

This article examines some practical problems of the application of the Law on the Insolvency of Enterprises of the Republic of Lithuania related to the effectiveness of insolvency proceedings. Though the new insolvency law seeks to ensure effective insolvency process, the analysis of certain provisions reveals certain problems of this act, which could significantly impact the effectiveness of this process.

This article focuses on extrajudicial (out-of-court) bankruptcy proceedings. It discusses how the new Law on Insolvency of Enterprises has changed the legal regulation of this process. The article examines the procedure of commencement of out-of-court bankruptcy proceedings, alongside the issues of informing creditors and the gathering of the creditors’ meeting. The statutory conditions for out-of-court bankruptcy proceedings are thoroughly discussed. The article also examines the competence of the creditors’ meeting in such bankruptcy proceedings. In essence, the creditors’ meeting performs the functions assigned to the court in ordinary bankruptcy proceedings. In practice, however, there are problems with the competence of the creditors’ meeting, for instance, the application of fraudulent bankruptcy. Furthermore, the article discusses the role of the court in this process. Though the court is not active in extrajudicial bankruptcy proceedings, the practical examples raise doubts as to whether the court should be allowed to interfere in the competence of the creditors’ meeting in deciding certain issues relevant to the bankruptcy proceedings.

Authors of the present article analyze legislation of the European Union on provision of legal services in another EU member state. This article also examines case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, consequently revealing problems of applying the analyzed legislation in practice. The authors pay special attention to the analysis of the norms, provided in the Law on Advocacy of the Republic of Lithuania, which are related to establishment and provision of services of other EU member states in the Republic of Lithuania, and critically evaluate the compliance of certain norms of the Law to the requirements of the European Union legislation.